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Hartford Gardens Tower
The Hartford Gardens Tower is a high-rise building located in the downtown Detroit Wasteland. Despite having survived both the Great War and the subsequent centuries of neglect largely intact, the building is today largely abandoned. History The Hartford Gardens Tower was built in the early 2040s as a mixed business/high-end residential complex. The building was constructed in the then-current Neo-Futurist architectural style, and featured a range of cutting-edge amenities to support its inhabitants. The building underwent an extensive upgrade in the late 2060s to bring it up to date, including some of the features that would survive for the next two hundred years. The economic downturn of the 2070s saw many of the businesses within the tower either leave or fail altogether, leaving large swathes of it uninhabited. Save for some minor exterior damage, the tower survived the great war intact. Some of those remaining inside it opted to take refuge there, hoping to shelter from the chaos that was overtaking the city as well as the worsening weather and radiation storms. Those that did were inevitably driven out as either the power failed or the food supply ran out. Within a year, the building, like most of downtown Detroit, was abandoned and forgotten. For the next fifty years, the building would remain uninhabited. It was not until the return of people to Detroit in the 2120s that the tower would first see exploration. By that point, it was already beginning to show signs of deterioration. Most of the lobby was little more than rubble, and several of the lifts had failed. Added to that, the building lacked water and power, making it less than ideal for habitation. However, it was also in better condition than other buildings in downtown, especially those closest to the riverfront. Even then, the Hartford Garden Towers would only see sporadic occupancy over the next century and a half. With the rise of other, more permanent settlements in the Detroit Wasteland, such as Park Lane, it became less desirable as a refuse. Added to that was the worsening conditions in downtown; both due to the deterioration (and in some cases collapse) of other buildings and the region’s degeneration into an armed no man's land where scavengers, raiders, feral ghouls and eventually Super mutants all vied for control. Those that did occupy the building rarely ventured beyond the lowest floors, having little need to go higher. Over the years, these floors were stripped of anything of value by either their inhabitants or passing scavengers. Several of the lower floors collapsed entirely in 2253, creating a twisted tangle of metal and concrete that served to deter further exploration. It was not until 2284 that the building would gain a permanent inhabitant. Kara Stinson, a mercenary soldier, took refuge in the building during the Revolutionary War. Willing to push through the lowest collapsed levels, she found parts of the interior that were still reasonably intact and stable, and eminently habitable. While she initially used the building as a refuge and base of operations during the conflict, in its aftermath she chose to move in there full time. Over the next few years, Stinson began a project of slow renovations in order to improve the building’s habitability while restoring some of its degraded features. Description The Hartford Gardens Tower is a sixty-five-story tall building of a relatively straightforward design. As was typical of the architecture of the time, its exterior was heavily ornamented and topped with a neo-Art Deco spire. Most of these features have survived intact over the centuries since the war, albeit with some degree of wear. The building’s exterior is largely intact, although there are places where the exterior walls have crumbled over time or due to damage. Compared to the outside, the interior is in much worse condition. Many of the floors have partially collapsed, leaving huge holes between levels or sections of entire levels missing. Debris from these collapses serves to choke the interior, making the building hard to navigate. In several places, a number of floors have partially or completely collapsed, making them effectively inaccessible. In addition, the lowest tent to fifteen floors have been stripped clean by scavengers over the years, leaving them with little of any value. The building’s lobby is entirely open, having long ago lost its doors and surrounding windows. The open area is now entirely choked with debris from both inside and out of the building, as well as plants that have taken seed in the rubble. None of the stairwells or lift shafts appear to be accessible; however, one of them is, but has been carefully hidden behind the debris. Likewise, one of the lifts does work, but the doors on the ground floor are sealed shut. Above the fifty-ninth floor, the interior is in much better condition. Most of the apartments are intact and, due to their relative inaccessibility, largely untouched. Kara Stinson, the building’s only human inhabitant, lives in a corner penthouse apartment that she has somewhat restored. Even then, it suffers signs of centuries of neglect, such as missing panels and non-functional appliances. Power to these levels is provided by several emergency generators that Stinson restored to working condition. The sixty-second and sixty-third floors feature a two-level club, originally designed to be a personal retreat for the building’s inhabitants. While it had suffered some wear and damage over the centuries, Stinson’s efforts to rehabilitate it, as well as her keeping it supplied with scavenged liquor, has seen it regain some of its lost grandeur. The club is run by the building’s only other inhabitant, Willard, who also serves as the bartender, bouncer, and cleaner, as well as somebody for its clientele (Which is limited to just Stinson) to talk to. Notable Inhabitants Willard A RobCo Protectron, Willard is the Hartford Gardens Tower’s only other inhabitant, and runs the club and serves drinks. On a technicality, he also was the building’s only inhabitant for long stretches of its existence, even if he was otherwise unaware of the passage of time. Willard was installed in the building during the 2070s as a part a staff of Protectrons intended for security, maintenance, and residential support duties. The last one of them still functional, Willard was originally programmed to support the club’s operations and continues to do such despite the lack of other staff or, for that matter, clients. Category:Places Category:Michigan